Automatic train-stop.



e. SEDGWICK.

AUTOMATIC TRAIN STOP.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. 1909. RENEWED NOV. 17.1915.

Patented 3111mm to:

u: Numus PETERS ca. Puma-mm. WASNINSIDN. n. c.

Nov. 14, 1916. )3 SHEETS-SHEEI' l.

H. G. SEDGWICK.

AUTOMATIC TRAIN STOP. APPLICATiON FILED MAYZG 1909. RENEWED Nov. 17.1915.

1 04,497. Patented N 0v. 14, 1916.

3 SHEE'lS-SHEET 2.

v M M H. G. SEDGWICK.

AUTOMATIC TRAIN STOP.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. 1909. RENEWED NOV. 17.1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

Yip W TED sTATEsrATENT orr on HIRAM GEE SEDGWIQK, 0F MILL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL SAFETY APPLIANCE COMPANY, A conronar on or CALIFORNIA.

AU'roMAT c TBAIN -STOZP.

Application filed May 26, 1909, Serial No. 498,453.

To all whom it may concern. 1

Be it known that I, HIRAM G. SnoowIoK, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Mill Valley, county of Marin, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Automatic Train-Stop, of which the following is a full and clear Specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which a Figure 1 is a side elevation of a locomotive and a portion of a road'bed provided with my invention; Fig. 2 a view partly inside elevation and partly in section showing the constructionof the arm on the locomotive which cooperates with the road bed devices; Fig. 3 isan elevation of the cushioning devices for the rock shaft; Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is a. series of views showing the manner in which the rock shaft cooperates with the shoe on the roadbed; Fig. 7 a vertical transverse section of the valve for lowering the arm carrying the rock shaft; Fig. -8 a longitudinal sectional view of'the outer end of the rock shaft carrying the frangible part of the electric circuit; 9 a plan view of aportion of a road bed showing one possible arrangement of the roadbed rdevice; Fig. 10 is a sideelevation partly insection showing a modification 0f theaarm structure carrying the frangible wire; and Fig. 11 a view oartly in section and partly in side elevation :of a modified form of the side arm jstructure, the design of this modification beingto, avoid the necessity of mounting a rock shaft in the arm. This invention is designed "to provide means whereby the-electriccircuits on; the locomotive and on the road bed will be reduced to utmost simplicity and will be normally closed, whereby the danger of derangement of the apparatus is reduced'to a minimum and whereby also v any derangement of the apparatus will cause the brakes to beapplied.

Then-road bed mally closed circuit I or arranged in the usual or any improved manner and including a batteryand a magnet .72. In the instance illustrated each -.circuit contains two magnets arranged; one ahead of theother in the block. lEa hmagnetis inclosed in a suitable housing a mounted; upon aishoe d, ,-s aid shoe being. suitably-mounted alongside of j the tr c h in it oppos t end up urn Specification of Letters Patent.

appliances consist l of a nor- Patented Nov. 14, 1916. Itenewedliovexhber 17, 1915. ,Seria1 Iva 62,077.

The armature e .of each magnet is pivoted on the plate d and carries a hook like arm f which when the current in the magnet is weakened falls bygravity through a slot inthe plate (Z as shown in Figs. 2, 4; and 5. These hooks f face in the direction of the oil-coming train, and the idea of having two or more arranged in tandem in each block or at each danger point is to increase the degree of safety. 7

"An arm 5/ is mounted at each side of the locomotive so as to have a vertical slidingmotion betweenthevertical bars h on the locomotive truck. This arm extends outwardly from'the locomotive and has 'eX- tending through it a hollow rock shaft 2' whichjcarriesat its inner end a depending cam 7' andatits outer'end a cam Z which normally points upwardly and is so positioned that as the locomotive passes one of the shoes on the road bed this ,cam will strike against the (upturned end thereof and rock the shaft a'partial'turn.

'Adjacentto the cam Z is afixed a pair ,of fingers m having extending across their ends afrangible conductor a, whose ends are connected to the normally closedcircuit 0 on the locomotive which circuit includes a brake magnet which when the circuit is 7 opened or weakenedoperates avent valve or other tra n stopp ng device 111 any suitable manner well known.

I It will be observed that theishoes on the road bed are so located with'refereneeto the vlaterallyprojecting:arm g on the locomotive-that when the arm. is at its uppermost point when theuarmis raised in its frame, the {cam Z will strike the nose portion of the shoe in going'in either-direction."

W hen going; forward asshown inFigsMl willbe applied. Irrgoingin the reverse direction, as shown in'Fig.v 6, the frangible conductonwill be thrown or turned away from the shoe and thus be. out of the way of engagement with the hook f in. case the same be, set ,indanger position. This capacity to passwithoutoperationin the reverse direction enablesthe appa-ratus tobeduplicated on opposite sides of the locomotive without the employment of reversing switches, it being simply necessary to so arrange the duplicate apparatus that they will operate reversely as is evident. I

Under the arm 9 is mounted a small cylinder 5 connected by a pipe 1' through a valves to the usual pipe 2 running from the storage reservoir it. In this cylinder is a piston whose rod 41 bears up against the under side of the arm 9 when air pressure is let in under the piston. The object of this is to normally hold the arm in operative position (the passage through valve 8 being normally open as shown in Fig. 7) and yet permit the engineer in the cab to lower the arm out of operative position whenever he desires to pass a danger-set road-bed device. He does this simply by rotating the plug w in valve 8 to disconnect port m from pipe 1* and connect exhaust port y to it, whereby the air under compression in cylinder 6/ will escape and thus let arm 9 fall. This plug is turned by means of a depending arm 2 on the end of the. plug that is adapted to be operated by a bell crank 01 connected to a wire 7) extending into the cab. As this permission to pass a danger-set device can only be given to the engineer under special conditions it is desirable to make a record of each .instance and for this purpose I prefer attaching the arm of a register recorder 0 to the wire Z). I also prefer attaching an alarm such as a whistle d to the valve 8 in such position that when the arm is lowered the alarm will sound continuously until it is again raised to operative position.

hen the locomotive is running tandem it is necessary that the control of the braking apparatus be placed in the hands of the engineer on the first locomotive. To do this the usual cut off valve 0 is employed, and in order that thearnr 9' may be lowered to inoperative position when the brake apparatus is thus cut off, I provide this cut off valve with an arm 7 and connect it by a rod or wire g to bell crank it arranged re versely to the aforesaid bell crank a. When the cut off valve 6 is operated the bell crank it will swing the arm a in a direction opposite to the direction it is moved by the bell crank a, and this action will put exhaust port z" in connection with pipe 1" and exhaust the same and lower the arm 9. But when the arm is lowered in this way there will be no registration of the act nor will there be any sounding of the whistle, it being unnecessary to perform these functions when the locomotive is running tandem.

I make no claim in this application for devices for thus rendering the automatic brake setting mechanism inoperative when the locomotive is running tandem. The same is covered by my copending application Serial Number 763665, filed Apl. 25, 1913.

Any suitable device may be employed for resiliently holding the cam l in its operative position but I prefer to employ a pair of cylinders j mounted upon opposite sides of r the depending arm j and provided with suit able pistons whose rod-s are provided with heads is bearing upon opposite sides of arm These cylinders are in constant communication by suitable pipe'arrangement Z with the storage reservoir u.

The modification shown in Figs. 10 and 11 consists in doing away with the rock shaft i and in carrying the fingers m directly on the outer end of arm 9, these arms m being arranged to extend upwardly so that the frangible conductor a will at all times lie in the path of the disrupting device In this form of device it is necessary to provide some means to protect the frangible conductor when going in the reverse direction. This may be done in many different ways, as for instance by a cam plate a pivoted between the lingers m at the rear of the breakable conductor a and held normally by a spring 0 so as to prevent the hook f striking said conductor u when the same passes under the hook in the reverse direction, the cam a simply acting to lift the hook 7 over the conductor a as the same passes under a hook. Of course this cam n is free to swing backwardly out of the way when the hook engages the conductor a in going in the opposite direction from hook f.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. In a train stopping apparatus, a circuit disrupting device on the road bed, a brake appliance circuit on the locomotive normally closed, a disruptable portion of this circuit lying in the path of the circuit disrupter on the road bed.

2. In combination with a normally closed brake appliance circuit on the locomotive, a portion ofthis circuit being disruptable and being extended to a point near the road bed, of an eleotromagnetically controlled circuit disrupter on the road bed, the circuit where of is normally closed to hold the disrupter normally out of operative position, whereby but two circuits are employed and both may be normally'closed.

3. In a train stopping apparatus, a circuit disrupter on the road bed and means for setting it in operative position, a normally closed brake appliance circuit on the locomotive, a portion of this circuit being disruptable and lying in the path of the circuit disrupter on the road bed, and means for shifting this portion of the circuit into and out of the path of said circuit disrupter.

' 4. In a train stopping apparatus, a circuit disrupter on the road bed and means for setting it in operative position, a normally closed brake appliance circuit on the locomotive, a portion of this circuit being disruptable and lying in the path of the circuit disrupter on the road bed, and means for shifting this portion of the circuit into and out of the path of said circuit disrupter, and means for rendering inoperative the brake apparatus simultaneously with the shifting of the circuit disrupter to inoperative position.

5. In a train stopping apparatus, a circuit disrupter on the road bed and means for setting it in operative position, a normally closed brake appliance circuit on the locomotive, a portion of this circuit being disruptable and lying in the path of the circuit disrupter on the road bed, and means for shifting this portion of the circuit into and out of the path of said circuit disrupter and means for sounding an alarm continuously while said disruptable part of the circuit is out of operative position.

6. In combination, circuit disrupting means on the road bed embodying a normally closed circuit, an electromagnetic and a gravitating circuit disrupter, a normally closed brake circuit on the locomotive, a portion of this circuit being made frangible and arranged to pass along in the path of said disrupter, for the purpose set forth.

7. In combination with a railway vehicle carrying train stopping means, embodying a closed circuit having a disruptable, part,

of cooperating means on the road bed and consisting of a closed circuit and magnet and a gravitating disrupter adapted When released to drop into the path of a disruptable portion of the aforesaid circuit.

8. An engaging arm located along the trackway, a circuit on the train, said circuit including a fragile conductor and a magnet, a brake valve controlled by the magnet, said fragile conductor being adapted to engage said arm when the latter is in stop position.

9. An engaging arm on the trackway, a train controlling device, a train circuit operating the train controlling device, a fragile conductor in the circuit adapted to engage said arm.

10. An engaging arm on the trackway, a train controlling device, a train circuit operating the train controlling device, a fragile conductor in the circuit, said conductor being adapted to engage said arm, said arm having two positions, an engaging position assumed by gravity and a non-engaging po- I sition.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses this 25th day of May, 1909.

HIRAM GEE SEDGWICK.

Witnesses:

CHARLEs D. DAVIS, CHARLEs LOWELL HOWARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. r 

